FATF to Review Countries with Chronic Failures in Crypto-Asset Supervision

This is the Treasury’s summary of the FATF plenary in Paris. The body agreed to accelerate the global implementation of its standards on digital assets and to conduct a targeted review of jurisdictions with long-standing deficiencies in the sector.

According to the FATF outcomes page, the results will be published in June and October 2027. The plenary approved the evaluations of the U.S. and Mexico, which will be published in December. Iran remains on the blacklist, with countermeasures that include digital asset transactions

PARIS — Last week, senior Treasury officials led a U.S. government delegation to the plenary meetings of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The FATF, the international body that sets standards for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and the financing of weapons proliferation, concluded its first plenary session under the presidency of the United Kingdom. The FATF adopted the Mutual Evaluation Reports of the United States and Mexico, reiterated its call to impose countermeasures on Iran, agreed to publish a new report on scam centers and committed to accelerating the global implementation of standards related to digital assets. 

STOPPING IRANIAN ILLICIT FINANCE

Iran remains on the FATF blacklist, and the FATF urged all nations to implement the reinstated United Nations Security Council resolutions related to Iran’s non-compliance with its nuclear agreements. The FATF also reminded all jurisdictions of the need to impose countermeasures on Iran to restrict correspondent banking, digital asset transactions and business relationships with Iran.

DISMANTLING SOUTHEAST ASIAN SCAM COMPOUNDS

The FATF also adopted a landmark report examining the financial flows that fuel scam compounds, laying the groundwork for a stronger and more coordinated global response to fraud. Building on these findings, the FATF will drive concrete measures to use all of its tools to foster more decisive action to dismantle these criminal networks, hold accountable jurisdictions that fail to address these risks, and protect victims and the global financial system. Scams orchestrated in these compounds often target elderly and vulnerable Americans, and the Trump Administration has taken numerous sanctions actions to stop the fraud.

ADVANCING THE DIGITAL ASSET SECTOR

The FATF also agreed to launch a targeted review of certain jurisdictions with persistent deficiencies related to the virtual asset sector, which heighten illicit finance risks. This review will set out the key points for the next FATF plenary on the measures the body can take to ensure the accountability of jurisdictions with systemic weaknesses that allow scammers, drug traffickers and proliferators to launder funds through exchanges.